4 Features Customers are Looking for When It Comes to Mobile

by aschmidt

Breaking: Mobile is the future, as customers become more and more dependent on their smartphones it continues to be imperative for businesses to have a mobile-friendly website.

Read time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds

With more than half of all internet traffic now coming from smartphones, the “mobile revolution” has created tremendous opportunities for brands that have been paying attention. There is a catch, however: if you want to garner the trust and loyalty of a mobile audience, your website must provide an excellent mobile experience. Fortunately, providing this type of experience doesn’t have to be complicated; you can succeed by focusing on doing a handful of key things very well. Below are four must-have features that consumers are looking for when interacting with a mobile site.

1. Speed

Speed should be a top priority for any brand that is looking to serve a mobile audience. According to a collaborative study published by Google and the market research firm Purchased, 53 percent of mobile users will exit out of a website if the page load time exceeds three seconds. Mobile users are inherently on-the-go, and they expect the sites they visit to load quickly to serve whatever immediate need they might have. As a mobile-minded business, you should carefully examine the speed and performance of your website on mobile devices, and work on trimming away any unnecessary features that could possibly slow down page load times or app performance.

2. Simple Navigation

When you think about creating a positive site experience for mobile users, quick discovery should be the name of the game. Your mobile visitors should be able to find what they’re looking for without having to fiddle with confusing menus or obscure navigational aids. Make your site navigation as intuitive as possible, and add helpful features such as a site search function to help filter information based on your users’ intentions. Keep in mind that mobile users are generally not inclined to engage in a lot of unnecessary typing, so do your best to make web forms and other interactive elements very simple tap-of-the-screen operations. If you operate a mobile commerce site, take some of the lag time out of the checkout process by pre-filling certain user data and/or preferences. It’s also important to add functionality to your website that will “remember” the user in case they’re not ready to purchase on their first visit; adding a save-to-cart feature is a great way to ensure a more seamless experience when your visitor returns to make their purchase.

3. Non-Interruptive

Perhaps nothing is more annoying than visiting a website on a mobile device, only to be bombarded with annoying pop-up windows or full-screen ads that seemingly won’t go away. When you consider that 46% of mobile users will swear off any future purchases from a brand if they have an interruptive mobile experience, it only makes sense to make your mobile site as non-intrusive as possible. Empower your mobile users to stay in control of their experience by steering clear of interruptive elements that detract from a positive interaction with your site.

4. Helpful

Your mobile site should be designed to anticipate the most common needs of your target audience, and then meet those needs with helpful and intuitive features. This could be something as simple as a convenient search function that allows users to see if a given item is in stock, or a live chat button they can tap to get a quick answer from a friendly customer service agent. By creating a positive brand experience through a helpful customer-focused mobile site, you will encourage repeat purchases and earn valuable word-of-mouth referrals from happy mobile users.

Mobile is the future, and the brands that can stay ahead of the curve in the mobile space will maintain a crucial advantage over their competitors in the years to come. Keep the above points in mind to help you create a positive mobile experience for your target audience, and it will position your business for continued success in the mobile-first era.